On a whim

I picked up Hellgate: London two days ago, and I haven't stopped playing it since. Let me preface this by stating that my brother and I both played Diablo 2 all the way through, twice. Playing a game in it's entirety is not something I regularly do, do in part to my ADD. Hellgate was designed by the same guys that designed Diablo 2, so it's no surprise that I'm drawn to this game.

Hellgate has single player, as well as multi, it also has servers provided by the developer, with persistence, this could almost constitute an MMO I believe. I have yet to try the multi, preferring to trudge through the single player experience (partially because I was without internet at the time of purchase).

I've enjoyed the game quite thoroughly so far, the game has several similarities to the aforementioned Diablo franchise, only Hellgate is set in futuristic London, where demons and zombies roam the streets after spilling forth from a, you guessed it, a "hellgate", most of humanities survivors now live underground in abandoned subway tunnels/stations.

The technology in the game is a mix of hi-tech/arcane magic. There's extensive modding/upgrading systems for weapons, which can be quite addicting, the best part, IMHO is that when you add a scope mod to your weapon, it actually gains a scope on the in-game model, a minor thing, but for a visually oriented person like me, it's exciting to see new magazines, scopes, batteries, fuel cells, etc... added to your weapons as you upgrade them.

The gameplay is a mix of RPG+FPS, which is becoming an increasingly popular combination. It's standard click-to-attack, you can configure what your left and right mouse buttons trigger, left weapon, right weapon, both weapons or skills and items. There's lots of flexibility depending on your play-style, I for instance love using dual pistols, and as a Marksman, I have the "Escape" ability, which allows you to go into stealth during a battle to escape being overwhelmed by the enemy. To facilitate easier and more efficient tactics, I bound "Escape" to the right mouse button, and the left to "Fire all weapons".

Once I've had time to try the multi-player, I'll make the call on whether it could be considered an MMO or not... at which point, I may write a review and post it in the reviews section, we'll see.